Donald Trump, his oldest sons and his business organisation are liable for orchestrating a “persistent and repeated fraud” in which they vastly inflated the value of properties in Manhattan and Florida, as well as golf courses in the US and Scotland, a New York state judge ruled on Tuesday.
In an order handed down days before a case brought by New York attorney-general Letitia James is due to go to trial, Judge Arthur Engoron said the former president and his associates had committed fraud, and issued sanctions against Trump’s lawyers, while suspending the Trump Organisation’s business licences in New York.
He said a jury would be left to determine further damages and whether the defendants are also liable for issuing false financial statements and insurance fraud.